Tutorial: Building Inspection and Permit Records

Introduction

Property owners who do certain kinds of construction on a property that are regulated by city codes, such as electrical or plumbing work, have to obtain and file permits with a city department.

Cities also inspect properties for compliance with a city’s building codes, often in response to complaints filed by neighbors or other citizens about substandard conditions on a property.

These files are kept at a city building permits office or a city building inspections office (often the two offices are part of the same department).

Code enforcement of blighted conditions – such as abandoned cars or trash on a property – sometimes is handled by a separate department or by a branch of the police department.

The files are indexed by the addresses of the properties.

Thus the permits index will list all the permits taken out to do electrical, plumbing and other construction work on a piece of property.

The inspections or code violations index will list instances where complaints were filed alleging violations of city codes at a property, along with a summary of any investigation the building inspection office conducted into the complaints.

Oakland

Building Services records request – an online form for requesting building permits and code violations for a particular address (you will be charged for using this service – the fees are listed on the form)